The Curious G @1: A year of being curious too
Part two of a two-part series.
Get into the groove
Hungarian professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is best known as the architect of flow. According to his studies, flow is a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand. Think of a pitcher’s concentration when he’s throwing in the zone or a singer getting into the groove of optimum performance. Being in the zone is like being curious – it’s all encompassing.
Everyone possesses curiosity to some degree, but the force of that strength varies from person to person, as does their willingness to act on it. Take a crack at a few exercises to determine if you’re uninterested or insatiable.
Ideas to engage the curiosity gene
- Create a story. Look around – focus your attention on something in particular in the environment, something which would not normally interest you. Build on that interest.
- Break your norm, do something different. Order a dish you have never tried before in restaurants, take a different route to work or go to a movie outside of your preferred genre.
- Ask yourself an interesting question from time to time. How do musicians fly with large musical instruments? Why do people block the doors in subway cars? How did blood oranges veer from naval oranges?
- Do a “random” Google search. Google the word “random.” Here are some of the pages you’ll find.
- Random Site Click the button – who knows where you’ll go.
- Random History Bit of this, a little of that…
- Random Specific How’s that for a great blog title?
- Endless + Random Poetry Self-explanatory, but interesting odes
- Forget the Schedule – Go Random Why we should let spontaneity be our guide
How did you do?
Was it difficult to focus your attention? How much effort did you need to expend? Was it worth it? Did you discover something new? Do you feel younger already?
In conclusion: are you the curious sort or not?
